


Celestial longitude

by SkilledWarriorKiwi



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - SBURB Fusion, Basically Jane takes Gamzee to the park and they feed ducks, Domestic Fluff, Ducks, F/M, Hugs, Pesterlog, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, There are geese as well, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Walks In The Park
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-14 04:39:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7998919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkilledWarriorKiwi/pseuds/SkilledWarriorKiwi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of my trade with <a href="http://paintsplatteredponies.tumblr.com">paintsplatteredponies</a> after they drew me this lovely <a href="http://paintsplatteredponies.tumblr.com/post/150330614065/swimmingferret-wanted-a-picture-of-a-xenomorph">Xenomorph Queen.</a><br/><br/>They requested <i>'Jane-Gamzee snuggle time? Just, a peaceful afternoon sorta thing?'</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Celestial longitude

tipsyGnostalgic [TG] has begun pestering  gutsyGumshoe [GG]  
  
TG: yo girl what u up to?  
TG: havent seen that sweet ass in a while  
TG: im like dealin w all that dumbfuck building shit w my mad rogue skills but holy shit a girl can only conjure so much shit outta thin air before she goes into full cabin fever mode  
TG: not to mention those trolls are being right shits lol  
TG: havent used the back of my hand so much as i have in the last week since that game got its butt whooped by all of us  
TG: especially those snobby blue bitches lmfao next time he tries that shit its gon be this boot up his ass  
GG: Roxy, that's lovely and all but I'm a wee tad busy right now.  
TG: BOO  
TG: stop abdoning me to these whiny shits omg  
TG: *abdomen   
TG: *abandon   
TG: I HAVENT SLEPT A LOT OKAY and my son is like so needy omg hes so cute i love him  
GG: Yes, you've told me before. Many times might I add. :B  
TG: HES SO CUTE  
TG: but not like sullen cute like dirky dirk instead hes all flustered nerd who tries to be cool but unlike orange tang he cant even keep that shit up as soon as you tease him  
TG: its fucking hilarious ive already started a scrapbook u wanna see  
GG: You put that all over facebook.  
TG: oh yea  
TG: BUT AS I WAS SAYIN  
TG: what that ass up to? u wanna hang for lunch?  
GG: I'd love to but I'm still currently trying to sort out the predicaments of my...housemates. Some are more difficult than others.  
TG: oh right u got the worst baby sitting job outta the bunch pfft  
GG: It's not that bad!  
GG: Well, Gamzee and Calliope aren't. They're both fast learners even if they seem to know nothing about social niceties.  
GG: Caliborn on the other hand is driving me right bonkers at times, the ungrateful little gremlin.  
TG: that boy needs a spanking  
GG: Actually I've found passive aggressive punishment and taking his toys away works better than simply belting him one.  
GG: Especially considering I've gained Calliope and Gamzee's support about it. :B  
TG: jane crocker, tamer of cherubs and clowns  
TG: u should start a circus act lol  
GG: Don't you start, I already have enough of that strange religious carnival thing from Gamzee and that strange mute brother of his.  
TG: wait u get silent bob pennywise showing up?  
GG: He shows up every so often. I make him smoothies, which I believe he appreciates.  
GG: However he doesn't stick by the 'Caliborn rule' chart and spoils the little beast whenever he shows up so sometimes I have to bodily hurl him out of the house.  
GG: At least he's fairly light :B  
TG: what he doesnt try givin u an ass kicking?  
GG: Ho ho, hardly!  
GG: I don't think those...Beforus? Beforans? really know how to fight.  
GG: Porrim sometimes helps if he's being a real nuisance, since she lives just down the street from us.  
TG: oh man porrim wowie  
TG: like dan por ur bobbies  
GG: Roxy no.  
TG: hey a girl can totes admire them if theyre put on display  
TG: tho how she doesnt fall outta that dress is one of the real mysterys of the game if u ask me  
TG: hmm  
TG: maybe i should investigate  
GG: Well, I won't stop you. She's a charming lady and I enjoy her visits.  
TG: hows she towards ur clown? and that lil clone sis of hers  
GG: She's fine. However I'm still fairly irate at how Rose's girlfriend behaved towards him and she's banned from the house whenever Rose is over.  
GG: Same for many of the other trolls, I'm afraid.  
TG: u got a ban board???  
GG: Yes, the Cherubs helped me make it. Some of Caliborn's pictures are fairly....lurid, but I believe they get the point across.  
TG: yeah i saw his dA page lol well at least he keeps on trying to not be shit so i guess some kudos for that lil asshole  
TG: BUT AS I WAS SAYIN  
GG: JINX!  
TG: hey!  
TG: unfair jinx u totally got me off guard via trainwheeling this convo someone else  
GG: It's totally fair!  
GG: You're the one who keeps on getting distracted through no shenanigans of mine!  
TG: alright ill give u that one  
TG: so back to the point before shit got wild  
TG: u up for lunch?  
GG: I would love to, but I promised Gamzee I'd take him to the park.  
GG: He...doesn't like leaving the house on his own.  
GG: Poor thing.  
TG: :(  
TG: well that doest sound kinda shit  
TG: troll life in general is total shit so i can like kinda get it  
TG: and that was just with fish bitch queen fucker who i ganked being in charge u know??  
TG: not actually rly living it  
GG: Speaking of which, I don't think they've found Meenah or those two Cobalt trolls yet.  
TG: lol they wont >:3c  
GG: ?  
TG: off such topics lol   
GG: Yes, I would rather not know.  
TG: dont worry weve got it cleaned and sorted out   
TG: so u just spending time w the clownie? hows he been doing?  
GG: Better- I've managed to introduce him to food so I've stopped finding him in the garden at three in the morning eating the flowers.  
GG: Well, it happens less often. Either way, all the flowers I've planted are non-toxic just in case.  
TG: does he chew the furniture as well  
TG: ive had cats whove clawed the shit outta my stuff  
GG: No, but I did find him asleep in the fridge once- I thought he was dead, he was so cold.  
TG: yea trolls w their weird ass body temp, further u go up the hemospectrum the colder they are so he prob feels like a corpse lol  
TG: wait are u takin tweedledee and tweedledumb w u on ur walkies  
GG: No, they'd rather stay home.  
GG: They aren't used to actually going out in public that much and you and I already know about Calliope's self esteem issues.  
GG: Caliborn is apparently still working on his 'master piece' so he's holed up in his room. Which is a blessing, since he's quite the tenacious little beast in public; I've had to use one of those harnessed child leashes on him whenever I've taken him out on a walk.  
TG: omfg please _PLEASE_ tell me u have pictures of that!!!!  
GG: ...  
GG: ...maybe :B  
TG: holy shit i gotta see!  
GG: I'll show you them tonight, if you want to meet up for dinner?  
TG: sure!  
TG: im supposed to be doing stuff w that stuffy yellow nerd troll but he can fuck off istg he's so pissy lol  
TG: i think hes going black for me?? just in his general antago behaviour like settle down mate im way beyond ur league lol  
GG: I don't know, frankly I don't want to know. But either way, I can send you a message later on in the night so we know when to meet up proper?  
TG: sure sounds like a plan janey, imma leave u and ur clown/cherub wrangling then  
GG: Bye!  
TG: talk to ya soon then babe! :DDD

  


tipsyGnostalgic [TG] has stopped pestering  gutsyGumshoe [GG]  
  


With that last goodbye Jane got up, snapping her laptop shut and pushing it into the middle of the living room table. She glanced over at the window, noting with satisfaction of the sunlight pouring through; good, the weather was finally clearing up after nearly a week of sporadic showers and wind. While she didn't mind dealing with the elements, going through a walk in a downpour wasn't something that was appealing for her.

She brushed off her jeans and tugged down the hem of her t-shirt, which was white and patterned with the green curls of her Life symbol. Likewise her shoes and glasses were edged in the same green hue; she vastly preferred the green to the ugly brown the rest of her Godtier outfit was made from. However compared to her housemates clothing choices she felt almost underdressed at times, as Calliope always wore a suit of some sort and Caliborn had now adopted a long coat into his wardrobe.

Living for nearly three months with the two Cherubs and their strange alien guardian was certainly an experience and there had been times Jane wanted to scream and throw things. However she kept her calm, and she had weekly visits with her dad who lived next door where she would complain about what went on. Who knew trying to keep a household in order could be so tiring or stressful, but at least Calliope and Gamzee were fairly easy to train after the first few incidents.

The walls were covered in pictures from all four of them- Caliborn's were the largest and most varied. He'd stopped, at least, of drawing all the girls of their group being decapitated and murdered. That was mainly due to Calliope finally getting fed up with it and cornering him and getting into a vicious punch up with her sibling one afternoon. It took both Jane and Gamzee to drag the fighting Cherubs off one another, but Jane had been inwardly amused to note Caliborn had been more severely injured than his sister.

At least the beat down meant he hadn't thrown a tantrum over Jane healing him and after that he held off drawing such guro, or whatever it was Dirk off highhandedly mentioned it as. Quiet frankly Jane didn't really want to know.

Glancing at her wrist watch Jane left the living room, wanting to prepare for her impending trip with Gamzee. She found dealing with the clown that having contingency plans was always a favourable course of action, mainly due to his scatterbrained antics and short attention span. It was also why she had a bike horn in her sylladex, as she found it a fairly good method of regaining his attention when it did inevitably wander.

Going into the kitchen Jane dragged various small bags and pouches from the pantry, sorting over the numerous foodstuff and putting it into a zip tie bag before throwing the other bags back into the pantry. Frowning she shook the zip tie bag a few times, trying to mix everything up properly when she felt something move into the range of her senses.

Ever since the Game ended, Jane had been able to 'feel' other people, to sense the steady pulse of their Life shimmering at the edge of her attention. Even while outside she could sense anything that was alive, like a warm glow enveloping her mind as she was surrounded by billions of flames of life. Sentinent beings tended to have more erratic, active energy than plants and flora who seemed more lax and subdued.

Because of that she could easily sense Gamzee even if she couldn't yet see him; all Game players seemed to have a more vibrant life force, oddly fixed to their current Aspect- Jake's and the Ampora's seemed to twist and flex like a cornucopia of shimmering white, Rose's pulsed with the comforting heat of the sun, Jade's and the Maryam's glowed and sparkled like inky nebulae. As for the Makara's, their Life pulse burned and cackled like fire, steady and fierce.

As such, she was aware of Gamzee flash stepping around the kitchen, even if he was moving so rapidly she couldn't follow him with her eyes. Without bothering to look up from her bag shaking Jane reached out and picked up one of the apples from the bowl at the edge of the bench and mutely offered it up to the apparent empty air; quick as a flash the fruit vanished from her hand with a snap of sharp teeth that barely grazed her fingers.

"You don't have to wait for me to feed you, you know," Jane said.

Gamzee had stopped moving around and was now sitting cross legged on the bench, munching on the apple. His long teeth flashed as his lips curled back before he picked up another apple from the bowl and snapped it up as well with a wet _crunch_.

"We're still going to the park," Jane said, looking over at the lanky alien as he proceeded to slowly eat his way through the entire fruit bowl, "So don't gorge so much or you'll give yourself a stomach ache. I'm just making up some stuff for us to feed the ducks with while we're there."

A snort was the only response, the troll preoccupied trying to jam an apple, a pear and an orange in his mouth all at the same time; Jane was fairly impressed when he succeeded and his long teeth made short work of the fruit. At least trolls weren't fussy with their food habits, eating everything from meat and fruit to dirt and rocks.

"Don't eat with your mouth full," she scolded gently. Gamzee paused, mouth hanging slightly open before he slowly shut his jaw and began to carefully chew, looking unsure of himself.

 _At least he listens,_ she thought; honestly, Gamzee had been one of the more tolerable of new housemates she found herself saddled with. Caliborn was the worst out of the group, but at least she'd managed to stop him from calling her a bitch so often after she started up a tally list and each time he reached a five she'd take away his art supplies or refuse to buy him new ones. Considering she was the only one in the house who had currency Caliborn, after many tantrums, had finally stopped calling her and Calliope sexist insults. 

Didn't mean he still wasn't a spoiled little brat but Jane counted it a success. Now she just had to train him out of basically everything else he did.

Pushing that away Jane started talking, wanting to fill in the silence Gamzee's appearance brought on, "Now, the traditional food for ducks is bread, but you really shouldn't feed them that. Over feeding them bread makes them fat and malnourished so I made sure to research what to feed them proper, so we don't cause them any undue harm."

Gamzee hummed contemplatively from where he was avidly watching her. Jane carried on talking as she fished out a bag of grapes from the fridge and set them up on the chopping board, "I looked up what to feed them and you should always try to have a varied meal for them- after all, humans can easily get sick or have food poisoning if only fed the same thing. Grapes are good, though they have to be cut up since ducks are quite small and you don't want them to choke," to illustrate her point Jane began to slice up the grapes with a sharp knife, the purple fruit easily splitting in half as she worked through the bag.

She tossed the cut halves into the zip tie bag set up on the table, slapping the side of the blade against it before turning back to the grapes, saying, "I've also gotten oats, barley, cracked corn, corn kernels, frozen peas and even some duck food pellets I brought from the shop the other day when I had to buy us a new table after Caliborn broke the last one."

Gamzee, who at this point had been nodding along with her words, glanced over at her and asked, "Isn't that why you took a real long-ass time getting back? All thought a motherfucker got side tracked the other day with all the shit."

Jane flushed, "Well not really- I went to Ikea for the table and couldn't figure out how to leave, so I was stuck there for quite a few more hours than I intended."

"Yeah, some of this is complicated shit that winds up making thought noodles outta your thinkpan," Gamzee agreed, "I ain't even good with half the shitnasty signs all over the place, just gets all squiggles to not making any more sense than a nut creature not up eating nuts."

"Oh, you remembered to feed the squirrels this morning?"

"Yup, even made sure not to eat any this time."

With a pleased noise Jane tossed a few more cut up grapes in the bag before putting the rest in the fridge and sealing up the zip tie, "That's good, I much prefer the squirrels over the raccoons. I don't think we need another one of them getting stuck in the chimney again." 

Gamzee made a face at that, his white and grey face paint twisting with his expression. Jane couldn't deal with basic make up on her own- seeing Roxy's morning beauty routine intimidated her too much -so she was rather impressed at Gamzee's dedication to keeping his face paint on every day to the point she'd never seen him without it.

Checking her watch again Jane looked up at the alien still sitting cross legged on the kitchen bench, with his tall bright horns, wild birds nest of hair, sharp teeth, half-lidded eyes, slate-grey skin, black shirt emblazoned with the curling purple of the Capricorn sign, speckled pants and indigo shoes. His limbs were long and his joints were knobby but Jane was pleased to note that his consistent eating had slowly pulled him from the near skeletal state he'd been just after the Game ended.

"Are you ready?" Jane asked. Gamzee just stared at her vacantly for several seconds so she repeated herself until his yellow eyes focused on her and he nodded. With that in mid Jane tucked the duck food into her sylladex and titled her head, focusing inwardly and expanding out her senses until she found Calliope and Caliborn's Life forces pulsating steadily at the edge of her mind; Caliborn's was downstairs in his room in the basement while Calliope was up on the veranda.

"They doing what they should be," Gamzee's voice interrupted her mental searching and she blinked up at him, the troll having slid off the bence and was now standing in front of her. He was infuriatingly tall so she had to tilt her head back up slightly to look at him, but despite all the ghost stories surrounding the lanky alien she'd never felt threatened by him. Bewildered, confused and even disgusted at times, but not afraid.

"Here," Jane offered a hand to Gamzee and the troll took it with a toothy smile. His fingers where overly long and covered in callouses and scars while his long claws dug lightly into her skin. At this point she was well used to the troll's cold skin- even so his flesh was far warmer than either of the Cherub's, who seemed akin to be carved from marble with their body density and coldness.

With that she left the house, dragging Gamzee along behind her. She'd found that over the last few months it was far safer to just physically lead Gamzee everywhere, otherwise the troll would end up lost and she'd spend hours trying to find him, usually resorting to calling Jade so the Witch could sniff him out and typically they'd find him in strange places like a drainage pipe, local fridges, a doghouse. and in one occasion half buried in a flower bed.

Speaking of unusual places she'd found alien clowns, she noticed a pair of orange horns sticking out of the leafy tops of a tree with numerous empty bottles of faygo scattered around the twisting roots.

Jane paused, making Gamzee run into her back, before calling out to the nearby tree in the yard, "Kurloz, we have several spare rooms in the house. You don't have to sleep in the tree."

For a moment there was no response, then a slender arm stuck out of the thick green leaves and gave her a thumbs up.

Gamzee growled slightly and Jane rolled her eyes before continuing forward, yanking the troll along when he tried to linger back. Jane wasn't sure just exactly _what_ was going on between the two clowns, but Gamzee didn't seem particularly fond of his fellow indigo. They'd only had one real fight and Calliope's screaming interjection put a stop to it right away but the blood stains were a pain to scrub out of the walls and she'd been forced to toss out the white couch.

The walk to the park was nice, tranquil almost. Unlike her old neighbourhood back before she played SBURB, she now came across various people going about their daily business and she got more than her fair share of weird looks for the troll she had in tow. From their various investigating after SBURB was finished they'd deduced that Earth had largely reverted to how it originally was in the Beta session with humans and their civilization being the dominant. Carapacians, consorts and trolls were apparently allowed as immigrants to the planet, but they were very rare as they had their own base planets restored in nearby universes. Jane was still trying to wrap her head around the fact spaceflight was common place but she was rather pleased to note that the weird new troll Empire that returned was apparently the one from the first failed session- meaning that it was less 'war mongers' and more 'lets give peace a chance' which Jane was grateful for. She was tired of fighting.

But as it was even with the new friendly relations of aliens species, their presence on Earth was still extremely rare so she could understand why so many humans they passed openly stared at Gamzee as he obediently trotted alongside her, hand still linked with hers. Those ones she could understand; the ones who crossed the street to avoid passing them she felt were just being rude and she glared at them when she caught them doing it. However when she snuck a few looks back at Gamzee it was obvious the troll didn't even notice, too busy staring at everything they passed or becoming absolutely transfixed by various bugs and birds which fluttered past.

He was very scattered brained; it made her wonder just how on earth he managed to raise Calliope and Caliborn when they were infants- she doubted Caliborn's tantrums had been any less as a child and Gamzee required almost as much careful guidance as the socially stunted Cherubs. Then again trolls in general seemed to be terrible at social necessities, even the 'nicer' ones who'd been imprisoned in the Dreambubbles for eons.

In that aspect Jane probably couldn't judge, being fairly anti-social in her youth and hardly ever leaving the house and her only friends were the ones on her computer.

 _God, I sound so bloody pathetic,_ she thought almost spitefully before shoving that dark mood to the side. It wasn't what they were outside for and she wouldn't bother Gamzee with her own issues.

"Here, we go through here," Jane gestured with her free hand to where the pavement split off in a fork, one track still hugging the road while the other arched off at a downwards slope that was covered with trees and flora. At the distance she could hear running water and the soft quacks of ducks.

Gamzee blinked then smiled at her, showing a thicket of sharp teeth and grey gums. It was a grotesquely endearing sight and he helt it for a moment and Jane felt her face burn for some reason. Swallowing down her embarrassment she carefully tugged on the hand still firmly gripping Gamzee's and the troll docilely followed her; that was another thing she'd noticed, how strangely obedient he was. Paired that with his completely inability to look after himself made her bemused as to how he'd even survived on the horrible troll homeworld back within the Game.

It did explain Calliope's fierce over-protectiveness of her past guardian along with the Cherub's refusal to leave Gamzee which likewise influenced Jane's decision to house share with all of them despite one being someone she hated and the other being basically a stranger with only Calliope being someone she trusted. But trust her she did, and Jane found that, besides some days making her want to rip her hair out, she was actually having a fairly entertaining time in her living arrangements and Gamzee was actually quite fun company once she managed to get to know him better.

Something proven yet again when she saw his scarred, painted face light up when they finally found the pond in the middle of the park and he noticed the ducks and geese waddling and paddling about the area. The quacks and honking nearly drowned out the heady noise of the artificial waterfall feeding back into the pond and keeping the water healthy.

Luckily he was so focused on the ducks he didn't notice a nearby mother grab her child and all but run down the adjacent path as if she was afraid the Capricorn would try devouring her offspring. However Jane certainly did and shot a venomous glare at the woman's retreating back. Honestly, Gamzee may be an skinny, overly tall alien with claws and fangs but that was just plain _rude._

She was too focused on thinking violent and fairly unfriendly thoughts that she was only vaguely aware of Gamzee pulling his fingers free from her grip and squatting down before the birds who had meandering up to their feet. She did notice when one of the large white geese approached the crouching troll and she quickly tried to intervene.

"Here, you can- Gamzee no, you need to have some food or-"

The troll in question just offered out his bare hand with after a second of contemplation the goose bit his fingers. Jane winced, knowing that geese had rather nasty mouths with barbs on their tongues and within their beaks. Gamzee however seemed unbothered by the large bird nipping at his fingers, smiling as the goose pecked at his hand a few more times before honking lowly.

"Feed them this," Jane said gently, kneeling down next to the troll who seemed unfretted by his bleeding fingers, as she fished out the zip tie bag from her sylladex and finished with, "They'll probably find it more tasty than your fingers."

He seemed confused by the bag so Jane unzipped it for him and offered it up, and the troll moved, scoping out a handful of the duck food mix and offering it once again to the goose. This time the goose started picking off the oats and cut up grapes, orange beck moving in a blur. Around the large white bird numerous ducks lingered but none dared intervene or try pushing in. Feeling pity, Jane tossed them a handful and with eager quacks they immediately swarmed onto food in a flurry of feathers.

Jane giggled, amused at how excited the birds were over the food as well as how uncaring they were that an alien was only a few feet away from them. She'd always liked birds, even with Dirk's various horror stories regarding the seagulls he'd grown up around. Being able to fly was wonderful, and she was still saddened it was an ability that hadn't followed them after beating SBURB. It was cheating, almost, but at least she could now do normal things like go to the park and feed the ducks.

Gamzee was still focused on the goose, pointed ears perking up as another one waddled up to the one still nibbling the corn kernels and oats off his palm and joined in. Gamzee started mimicking their honking, a large smile slowly inching across his face as he and geese started up their own strange conversation. Jane started giggling, even as she tossed another handful to the exited ducks. 

"See? It's rather nice to get out of the house, isn't it?" Jane smiled at Gamzee, flicking a few peas and bits of barley off her fingers, "I know you certainly don't mind a hermit lifestyle and I admit it is appealing at times, but getting out and just doing something as placid as this can be quite charming. It helps....well, it helps to stop brooding as well. Being outside and seeing how everything sorted itself out."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Gamzee's smile fade, a crease appearing between his brows but she carried on, "I know I probably haven't actually been the best of housemates and for that I'm sorry. I'm just fairly unused to...."

_People._

It would've felt too pathetic saying it aloud, so she just let her words trail off and instead focused back on the ducks. By this point the two of them were sitting on the path, ignoring the stones digging into their shins and thighs, with the birds milling around them quacking and honking. It felt peaceful but at the same time tense.

"Nah," Gamzee's voice was soft, quiet enough she wouldn't of heard him if she weren't sitting down so close to him, "You being all nice, nicest of the soft lil' starmonkeys that's for sure. Looking after my tiny candy-swirl miracles, even though I ain't blind to how they're pretty hard to do stuff with. You ain't got a faith to make you do it but you do it anyway."

Jane frowned, not liking where the conversation was going, "Calliope's my friend. I would do anything for her. And while I...may not like Caliborn, Calliope cares for him so I'll try my best. Likewise she cares for you and unlike...him, you're far easier to get along with. I don't mind."

Gamzee shrugged, "Still, could've just all lived in the hive next door and sent sweet ol' lizard sis a call through a husktop when you wanted, not just bunk up and act lusus."

"As I said, I don't mind."

"Yeah but you had other shit, all those other pale diamond mates you gotta get your fuss on. Not worry about the rest, especially me who's just some trash clown motherfucker who fucked right up."

"You made mistakes; we all did," Jane's voice was bitter, "We just have to move on, especially now we're free of that awful Game. Also we can feed ducks. They don't mind."

She felt fairly preachy at this point so she stopped talking, instead offering a halved grape to one of the ducks who eagerly snapped it up with her dull orange beak. After glancing at Gamzee's hand and seeing the still bleeding marks the goose had inflicted Jane decided to leave those larger birds to Gamzee, since he seemed unbothered by the biting and nipping when the geese missed the food and got his fingers.

A few ducks bumped against her shins from where she was kneeling on the pavement, their feathers brushing against the exposed skin between her shoe and the hem of her jeans. At this point there was nearly a dozen of the excited birds flocking around them, quacking and falling over each other to peck at the food on the ground. Jane grinned, tossing another handful and making several more ducks fly up from the pond in a flurry of feathers and water droplets to join the fray.

They had a complete lack of fear to the two of them that she found endearing; not having Consorts in the Game was an immense disappointment so she enjoyed having wild life around her. It was why she was trying so hard to lure in the squirrel population around their house, even if Gamzee's and the Cherub's extreme carnivorous diets made that difficult at times. She gave another handful of food to the ducks and offered the bag up to Gamzee, who immediately hand-fed the geese again. Jane left him to it and this time carefully reached out and patted the backs of the one of ducks waddling near her knee, feeling the soft, almost silky, feathers brush along her fingertips. 

With a sigh Jane leaned against Gamzee's side, feeling the three raised bumps dotting his ribcage through his shirt as she pressed up against him. She knew him well enough to dare such a thing and Gamzee himself seemed to lack general knowledge of personal space.

This close a few strands of his wild hair tickled her nose and brushed against her cheekbone while the smoothness of one long horn was pressed against the top of her head as he leaned into her in response to her proximity. Her side became chilled and goosebumps rippled over the exposed skin of her forearms from his cold body temperature, and if it wasn't for his shifting in place and low honking he could've passed for a stone statue. 

The air was sweet with the smell of berries and the ducks low quacking combined with the peaceful noise of the waterfall made Jane feel calm and she slowly slumped further and further against the troll until her face was pressed into the bony side of his neck. He easily bore her weight without complaint, and he didn't say anything as he took the bag of food from her limp hands and started feeding the rest of the birds with handfuls of the mixture, mainly the geese who were still muscled in at the front and excitedly nibbling at his fingers. He seemed so genuinely happy to be accosted by the birds, his strange, yellow eyes bright and open as he smiled at the geese as they honked and hissed. Jane hummed, eyes sliding shut.

"I like these featherbeasts," Gamzee suddenly said, causing her to jolt out of her daze, "They're all nice, not just murder shits like the ones we all had back on there troll sphere space hive."

"Mayhaps we can dig out a pond in the backyard," Jane suggested drowsily, "So we can always have ducks around. I know Calliope likes drawing wildlife but she doesn't like going outside often. Or at least around people."

Gamzee let out one of his snort-laughs before he started honking at the geese again who eagerly responded back to him- one goose, a large female Branta with glossy black feathers, waddled up and started rubbing against his knees and nibbling at his shirt sleeve. Gamzee started patting her, taking care not to prick the goose with his long nails as he smoothed down her feathers and scratching at the bird's long, graceful neck.

Jane gathered up enough courage to also reach out to the large bird, pressed up against Gamzee's side as she carefully went to put her hand on the bird's side. As soon as she got within range of the goose, it twisted around and bit her index finger with a sharp nip.

"Ow! You son of a-"

Gamzee burst out in full laughter at that, laughing so hard he promptly fell over and knocked Jane onto the ground with him. The ducks and geese squawked indignantly and scattered as the troll and human hit the pavement, the zip tie bag hitting the ground as well and spewing out the rest of the food on top of them and around them; almost instantly Jane found several ducks and geese clambering over her, beaks pecking at the food, her hair and clothing.

It took them nearly a minute to fix the mess and by then Jane's hands and clothing was covered with dirt, moss and feathers before they managed to get upright and escape the excited horde of birds. Jane shooed away a few ducks who stumbled over her feet and grumbled irritably at the female black goose as she picked at several peas near Jane's scuffed sneakers before the Maid bent down and picked up her glasses, which had fallen off during their little mishap. Jane made a face when she realized the left lenses of her glasses was cracked and she put them back on and grimaced at the sudden warped vision on the left.

"Well, now I must replace these. I don't think they will be covered with 'bird related mishaps'," Jane said in annoyance.

Next to her Gamzee blinked, seemingly confused before he straightened up; standing upright he was easily a head taller than she was and he was covered in just as much dirt. Noticing her stare he beamed at her, showing shark-like teeth. He seemed so genuinely pleased to just stand there and smile at her, ducks milling around his feet and with scraped elbows and knees. He seemed to genuinely pleased just to be spending time with her that Jane felt herself blush and she looked away from his smiling, painted face, feeling self conscious.

For a long moment neither of them moved and the only sounds was the wind shifting through the trees, the waterfall and the squawking of the birds still milling around their feet, nipping at the stray food and pecking at their shoe laces. Jane rubbed at her forearm, scratching some dirt off with her fingernails and feeling at a loss at what to do in the sudden contented silence between the two of them.

Then Gamzee reached out and squeezed Jane's nose, making an overly exaggerated noise as he did so. 

In response, Jane shoved Gamzee so hard she knocked him into the duck pond with a loud splash and a startled _honk._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, geese have mouths that kinda [freak](http://i.imgur.com/ToWmXtj.png) [me ](http://i.imgur.com/c1ZAbGP.png)out.


End file.
